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While Stockholm, Sweden, may not be top of the list in terms of hotbeds of international rugby, for one Bahrain-resident this weekend, it is the venue for one of the biggest matches of his career so far.
Bahrain Rugby Football Club (RFC) first XV number eight Tom Jankowski will travel to Stockholm as part of the Polish national squad taking on Sweden in the latest round of the European Nations Cup Division 1B.
The London-born forward, who qualifies to play for Poland thanks to his Polish grandfather, is expected to be named to start in the back-row for Saturday’s match and win what will be his 10th cap in the final international of the 2012/2013 campaign.
He turned in a man-of-the-match performance in Poland’s epic and first-ever victory over Ukraine in March but was then part of the side which went down to Moldova the following month.
Poland are lying in third place in the standings of this biennial tournament but, crucially, still in with a shot at qualification for the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England.
Victory over fifth-placed Sweden this weekend would see them leapfrog Moldova into second spot and level with table-toppers Germany in terms of win/loss ratio.
Whoever finishes top of the six-team table at the end of next season will be promoted to Division 1A for the 2014-2016 competition, while also entering a play-off series against the third-placed team from 1A and the winners of Division 2 for a chance to take part in the Rugby World Cup repechage against qualifiers from other continents.
Jankowski, 24, said: “Despite our loss (to Moldova) in the last round, I still think we should be favourites to top Division 1B and win promotion to the top division,” he said.
“We know World Cup qualification is a very distant and unlikely goal at this stage but it remains a goal and I see no reason why we shouldn’t be reaching for the top.”
Saturday’s match will kick-off at 6pm local time (7pm Bahrain time) and, while there is another international taking place in Hong Kong that day, expect many at Bahrain RFC to be keeping an ear out for events unfolding in Stockholm.
